About The Boss

When you hear the words “The Boss”, perhaps your thoughts turn to Bruce Springsteen. For the sake of this post, I would invite you instead to consider your current (or most recent) “boss” in the workplace. What words immediately come to mind when you think of him or her? Just for fun, make a list as quickly as you can of five positive words and five negative words that describe your boss:

Five Positive Words That Best Describe My Current (Most Recent) Boss:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Five Negative Words That Best Describe My Current (Most Recent) Boss:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

One of the many enjoyable things I get to do in my practice is to listen to clients. I love their stories. And in listening to their stories, I hear them describe their boss, especially when we are practicing for a job interview. I have heard many words that I cannot post here due to their PG-less rating. I have also listened to a myriad of negative boss descriptors (some examples below) when practicing this fill-in-the-blank question:

My boss is:

……rude, disrespectful, arrogant, disengaged, pushy, jerk, self-absorbed, absurd, incompetent, ineffective, disorganized, clueless, lame, inconsistent, unfriendly, has issues, condescending, insensitive, unavailable, unapproachable, doesn’t care, wishy-washy, hostile, doesn’t have my back, won’t listen….

If you are going to a job interview, be it today or in the near future, do you very best to speak well of your present (or most recent) boss. One of the ways to do this is to review the list of positive words you shared about your boss at the beginning of this post. Do your best to practice the positive words before going to your job interview so you will not be stumped by this question.

In my first “real” job after college, I worked for the president of a company. Here are my five-plus positive words for him:

Intelligent brilliantAdvertising geniusSuper-strategistGood instinctsQuick witIncredible visionOrganizedImmaculately dressed

Here are my five-plus negative words for him:

Feared by vendors, employees and board membersDictatorial styleDemanding, unreasonably soMean Frugal to a fault RuthlessImpatient

When you interview for your next job, be fully prepared for a question such as:

“What words describe your boss, why did you choose them, and please share with us an example for each word you selected.”

Do your best to answer the above question (or some derivative thereof) with confidence and without hesitation. Select only positive descriptors and set aside the negative ones. Whatever you say can and will be used against you when you are in the interview hot seat. Do not let your non-verbals reveal your displeasure for your current or most recent boss. You know that saying: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all” – it still has relevance in the job market of 2012.

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